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# theft

«theft» in Mova's school dictionary: **the crime of stealing, taking something that belongs to…** — its meaning for a pupil, its sense in the lessons and examples, with 4 sentences of Mova's corpora that use it.

### part of speech

noun (theft, a theft, thefts)

### meaning for a pupil

1) Theft is the crime of stealing, taking something that belongs to someone else without permission and without meaning to give it back. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#m1)

2) A theft is one act of stealing. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#m2)

### sense in the lessons

In lessons about right and wrong and the law, theft is a crime; a person who steals is a thief. In safety lessons children learn to keep valuables safe and to tell an adult or the police about a theft. «Identity theft» is when someone steals another person's personal details online. Phrases: «car theft», «identity theft», «report a theft», «petty theft».

### examples

- The theft of the bike was reported to the police. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x1)
- Theft is against the law. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x2)
- There has been a theft from the changing rooms. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x3)
- Identity theft can happen online. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x4)
- Lock your bike to prevent theft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x5)
- The museum was closed after the theft of a painting. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x6)
- Shoplifting is a kind of theft. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x7)
- On discovering the theft, he beat his breast and loudly bewailed his loss. [tree →](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/#x8)

### note

Plural: thefts. Related: thief (person, plural thieves), steal (verb: steal, stole, stolen). Borrowing with permission is not theft. «Finders keepers» is not a law — taking something you found that belongs to someone else can be theft.

### In the corpora

- ["Shrinkage" is shop talk for goods lost to theft.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/euphemisms/42-olympiad-reading-between-the-lines/22/)
- [Keeping something you know belongs to someone else can count as theft, even if you found it.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/286-being-trusted-and-things-you-find/27/)
- [Putting a theft right means giving back or paying back, and saying sorry to the person.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/everyday/338-sweets-change-and-a-friends-toy/20/)
- [From 1788 to 1868 Britain sent about 160,000 convicts on ships to Australia, a punishment called transportation, sometimes for quite small thefts.](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/school/history/84-gaols-magistrates-and-old-punishments-from-the-stocks-to-the-children-act-of-1908/12/)

### Trees and pragmatics

[Every meaning and example of «theft» parsed by Mova](https://md.mova.elamur.ai/free/en/corpora/dictionaries/school/T/theft/), each sentence with its dependency tree and frames.